Windowless Plane Would Let Passengers See World Around Them

[demmiblue]

Source: Mashable

<snip>

The imaging you'd see from the panels would come from mounted cameras outside of the aircraft that the developers say could offer an unobstructed panoramic view, meaning no visible wings or engines. Users could adjust the settings and use the displays for in-flight services, the company said.

The plane would use OLED screens (a high-end, thin-film display technology) with protective coatings made to preserve the displays for its lifetime.

Passengers would also be able to see and set their screen to show a live stream of outside surroundings from a completely different portion of the plane.

But this isn't just about a sleek new flight experience. CPI has made some pretty substantial claims about what this sort of technology could do for the flight industry. For starters, the plane walls would be thinner, more lightweight and stronger than what we have now.

Read more: http://mashable.com/2014/10/27/windowless-plane-oled/

[Warpy]

1. They'd better make the air sickness bags a lot bigger

I don't see this as being particularly attractive to a lot of the flying public.

However, being able to opt for either a movie or a real time series of camera images of the horizon, cloud cover, and whatever you were flying over would be great.

I have no fear of heights and always opt for the front window of the local tram. People who wanted to see what I'm looking at down there have gone quite green. I am in a distinct minority in that regard, so if they want to promote surface travel, they can make the fuselages appear transparent.

[demmiblue]

4. I am at sum zero regarding this concept.

I am a wee bit claustrophobic on planes, so the expansive feeling might be nice...

however, I am also a little freaked out about heights. Lol!

Definitely a cool use of technology, though.

[leftynyc]

21. I"m also claustrophobic

and I don't think it would help at all. You still can't get out of the airplane and take a walk and get air.

[librechik]

17. yeeeeeeeah!

that's a little too convincing--i got vertigo just looking at the pics!

[yeoman6987]

30. I for one would pass on this

I don't mind flying, but this seems a bit much.

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. freaky!

[Takket]

3. That's the dumbest idea ever

[KamaAina]

39. Well, except for every single repuke idea

[2naSalit]

5. Sooo if these are

projected images, I wonder how long it would be before they are showing ads and fake or pre-recorded images that are showing you a nice pretty picture so you can't see what's actually down there...?

I wouldn't fly in a windowless plane (but I don't fly at all anymore for a number of reasons). I don't trust the corporate entities who own these airlines enough to let them fly me someplace where I can't see where we are going or what's really outside the aircraft. But that's just me.

[suffragette]

6. Who gets to control the remote to change the screen?

That could get quite interesting.

[Recursion]

12. The tech isn't there yet, but is getting closer, to display different things based on the angle

So, viewing from seat 12A you would see "X-Men 15 and a Half", and from seat 12B you would see "The Pain and the Yearning", both looking at the same patch of wall.

[csziggy]

7. Gee, just watched a show about one of the first planes with a cockpit camera

That let the passengers see the pilots' view. But the plane it was in crashed horribly shortly after takeoff, killing everyone one board (if I remember correctly). One of the things that haunted the NTSB investigators was that the passengers would have seen their certain deaths coming. In the show about the crash, they made the point that cockpit cameras were discontinued after that. It may have been Flight 191 but I'm not sure (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_191).

I can't imagine what would happen in an emergency with a full view like on the plane in the OP. And I would NOT be one of the passengers - too much chance of vertigo!

[spanone]

8. pass the dramamine....

[Barack_America]

9. Just serve in-flight pot brownies.

[Iggo]

16. That is always the correct answer.

[Initech]

10. Yeah that won't do anything to ease flying fears.

[Suburban Warrior]

11. I'd be happy with just

a few more inches of leg room.

[elias49]

26. Yes, yes.

But that won't happen until (unless) people stop flying so much. How do we get costs down or airline profits?
Nah. This is America...

[etherealtruth]

13. not just NO, but HELLLLLLLLL NO

... at least for me. I can't /won't look out the window on a "regular" plane

[Phentex]

18. I like flying but

NO and hell NO as well! I don't need to see that.

[Baclava]

14. More electronics load = more chance of fires...but flying in thunderstorms at night would be cool!

Are we even sure we want to know what goes on out there?

[KingCharlemagne]

15. Thread winner (for bottom pic)! - nt

[Baclava]

40. Why thank you!.... I always wanted to be 'Thread Winner'....

It's good to be the King!

eh?

[aikoaiko]

19. I put on sunglasses/earplugs and sleep when I fly.

[Renew Deal]

20. I wonder if the screens would be hackable.

To play something like this:

[n2doc]

22. Some pitfalls

[lumberjack_jeff]

23. Heh. +1 n/t

[demmiblue]

25. Lol!

[neverforget]

29. Lol!

[lumberjack_jeff]

24. Do the floors too.

Glass-bottomed boats are cool. Glass bottomed airplanes would rock.

[DetlefK]

28. You can see your feet when you fly???

[MindPilot]

32. only if you look down...

[zipplewrath]

27. Unlikely use

If they can convince everyone from the FAA to the airlines to make windowless aircraft, it would make for better fuselages. Those windows create a long series of potential failure points that all have to be re-enforced. However, I'm dubious this is what would be displayed. Most likely some study would be done on patterns and colors that would calm and assure people the most, as well as encourage sleep. In an emergency, the most likely thing would be graphics indicating where exits were, where to find the flotation devices, etc. Great way to supply information as well about connecting flights, how to get through customs. And of course as we all know, it means another venue for advertising, subtle or otherwise.
At the simplest they could display a virtual fuselage with a much larger window next to you, and make the scene outside selectable. Anything from the actual outside view to an apparent view outside a train window.

[MindPilot]

31. Oh hell yes!

And supplement that with a visor that effectively makes the interior of the aircraft disappear. Now that would be flying!

Also, how about making that drink cart run on a set of overhead tracks so passengers can get past it to get to the blue room?

[Jesus Malverde]

33. covered in ads....nt

[FSogol]

34. Bah. It's been done before...

[Blue_Tires]

35. Did Wondie never figue out that

that the jet may be invisible, but she isn't?

[MrScorpio]

36. Horrible idea

If anything, for the air/motion sickness that it will create.

Motion sickness is created when there's a conflict between what a person sees (or doesn't see) and what their inner ear detects.

I've had this shit happen to me before. The only time I've been airsick was when I was in an AF cargo plane and had no windows to look out of. If you're a passenger in a car on a winding road, you'll have to see where you're going, or else you're going to get sick.

[logosoco]

37. This reminds me of Blane the train in Stephan King's Gunslinger series.

I don't fly and if I was in this plane, I would be sitting with my eyes shut tight and my feet up under me as close as I could get them (even if it is just imaging, it is too real!)

[Lars39]

38. Plane couldn't hold enough liquor for me to fly like that.

[Delphinus]

41. Nooooooooooooooooooo!

Please, it's hard enough to fly sometimes - not that I'm really skittish - but I've had to catch myself from having semi-panic attacks. This would not work for me at all.

[Mister Nightowl]

42. So, it's like we're fucking SUSPENDED IN MIDAIR AT 35,000 FEET?

No thanks!

[jmowreader]

43. There's way too much potential for hackers here

You KNOW if they put a huge display like that in an airplane, every hacker in the world is going to work on putting pictures of Cthulhu on it.

Try this, tho: put a set of rails on the wall of the plane at window height, and put 19" LCD panels next to each row of seats driven by a camera on each wing looking out.